Affordable Care Act isn't very affordable

When the Affordable Care Act was first unleashed on the American people last October, the headlines provided a keen insight into the flaws of a huge federal government overreach.

Liberals held their collective breath in anticipation of this grand design while conservatives laughed at the Keystone Kops rollout.

The massive and ultra-expensive website crashed time and time again. Sign-ups were woefully below even conservative estimates. Some states reported zero sign-ups.

The administration came up with a host of excuses for the problems and promised once again that the program would improve with time.

When time did not prove the solution, the President - unilaterally and without Congressional approval - began tinkering with parts of the program that were problematic. On his own in an attempt to salvage the health care overhaul, he delayed dozens of aspects of the ACA.

In fact, the program was so haphazard that the daily headlines of snafus started to wear thin.

And the IRS, Benghazi, NSA and a host of smaller issues took center stage and the ACA just continued to grind along at a snail's pace.

Then, as if by magic, the enrollment numbers were reported as highly successful despite a lack of detailed and accurate accounting to this very day.

Now we learn that today - nearly eight months after the disastrous rollout of Obamacare - that this tale of failure is still unfolding.

So this week we learn that four states - Massachusetts, Oregon, Nevada and Maryland - have had such dismal results from their state health exchange sign-ups that they are seeking even more money to upgrade their failed systems.

These four states alone have used nearly half a billion tax dollars to design programs that have fallen flat on their faces. And states like Minnesota and Hawaii are in even worse shape.

If it weren't such a dismal failure and such a waste of tax dollars, it would be funny. But when you imagine how that half a billion dollars could impact so many lives in a positive way, you just have to shake your head in frustration and disgust.

Forget the lie of: "You can keep your plan. You can keep your doctor. You will save on average $2,500 a year."

We have all been reluctantly pulled into reality and we realize that some of those early promises were just campaign rhetoric and don't match up to reality.

In a normal world, someone would be held accountable for a half billion dollar loss. And it's time to quit blaming a vendor because someone made the decision to hire the website designer.

But we no longer live in a normal world and a half billion dollar loss is just apparently part of doing business.

The day may never arrive when we repeal Obamacare. But the massively flawed program will likely undergo many more revisions.

In the meantime, all that has been accomplished is a hike in the Medicaid enrollment and millions of lives disrupted with a one-size-fits-all health care system.

Rest assured, when the billions in losses turn into trillions in losses, someone will pay attention.

Of course, by then, it will be too late.